Our trip was from Benalla, Victoria, Australia to a sheep station about 300kms north of Wilcannia in New South Wales. The purpose was to visit friends we had seen on the same station 14 years ago and attend a combined 21st and 50th birthday party. And what a party it was. Roughly 680 square kilometres of property, all night party and no neighbours complained. The reason being was that they were all there and the nearest lived 35 kilometres away!
The bird list was not spectacular due to a total lack of water. The area is still in total drought. We showered in hard bore water that would not even get toothpaste to lather! My job for the week was to keep the donkey at the shearers quarters fired up so the guests could have a hot shower. In other words, I had to keep wood burning in the hot water service.
The bird list, as I said, was not spectacular. The highlight for us seeing Major Mitchell Cockatoos. They were feeding about 25 metres from us and were not concerned about our prescence. We blocked a major highway, a dirt road that took us 4 1/2 hours to traverse 160 kilometres, for at least 20 minutes. There were no other cars on it!
My personal best was sitting on the tailgate of the ute at 7.00am, cup of coffee, watching a pair of Bourke Parrots. I watched them for about 1/2 an hour and I was amazed at the way inter-reacted. They just had to be with each other.
The odd one, no water for miles, salt bush and a White-necked Heron. Had me stumped.
Budgies, natural green type, galore. Cockatiels galore. The one that surprised was the Red-capped Robin.
The other aspect of the trip was a new bird for us. I always get a buzz out of identifying a new bird. Red-winged Parrot at Cobar. We stayed in the caravan park at Cobar, ended up staying 2 days extra, car problems! These parrots were everywhere.
Other highlights were Wedge-tailed Eagles on Kangaroo carcasses that had been hit by trucks. Wedge-tailed Eagle carcasses that had been hit while feeding on the kangaroos.
Tossing mealworms to Pied Butcherbirds so that my wife can take photos was a laugh. The even bigger laugh was tossing mealworms to the Painted Dragons. In the end I was dropping the worms at my feet and my wife got some great photos.
Next trip is Kangaroo Island in September, orchids will be in bloom.
Sounds a good trip!